Rating: 
Summary: Club Confusion
Review: "Wow, oh, wow," you think to yourself as 54 Japanese schoolgirls march down the subway stairs. A mass of chaos, they are, some conversing with each other, others talking on the phone, and others yet doing who-knows-what. The group heads down on over to the tracks to wait for the train to come, stepping right behind the yellow line. The sign warning people to stay behind the aformentioned line catches your attention when suddenly, the girls step past the line and join hands in an abrupt show of unity. Swinging their hands, they sing to three. But you can't hear them past 'two." The thundering train blocks out all other sound. That is until the they take the fatal jump, and a cacophonous cocktail of crunching bones, tearing flesh, and horrified screams floods your ears....and so Suicide Circle begins. Sadly, as well as it knows how to do that, it doesn't know much else. Following the appalling (but darkly comedic) introduction is a poorly structured narrative about an epidemic of suicides in Japan and the detective who must uncover the link behind them all. The film tries to intertwine different stories into the central plot but fails miserably. These include the Bat, a seemingly mysterious woman who knows of the titular club, and a girl whose boyfriend takes part in the morbid trend. The latter actually concludes the story in poorly-tied ending. The main story about the detective isn't even that interesting, focusing only on the age-old dilemma of family or career. Suicide Circle attempts to throw people off towards the end of the movie, but the twist isn't developed well enough. The ambiguity of the ending could be argued as an artistic decision, but considering that everything else was so ostensible, I would lean towards a bad story. It tries to be a commentary on today's society's obsession with pop culture, but this aspect seems to have been a complete afterthough. Ironically enough, this film only mindlessly contributes to our modern culture's fascination with the macabre and gory without bringing great insight. It contradicts itself. The music is alright, but the in-movie pop group Dessert actually churns out some pretty catchy tunes, something that's creepy once you actually realize their significance. In the end, Suicide Club will probably be remembered for its absurd plot and its gory death scenes, but not much else. Like a speaker who does not prepare his speech, Suicide Club does not bring its point across well, a serious impairment for a movie with such a powerful and important statment to make. DVD extras contain trailers and stills. Hard subtitles are a negative, and with a price like that, it's robbery. A package without bells-and-whistles. Buy this only if you're really curious or must complete a collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Senseless Gore Disguised as Social Commentary
Review: A misanthrope decides to inflict a vision of nihilism on the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: WASTE OF YOUR TIME AND MONEY
Review: an absolute waste of my time. I can't believe I just wasted 99 minutes of my life watching this horrendous excuse for a movie. as for social commentaries, it was lost in all the rest of the senseless fragmented story. if you liked this movie, you might also want to go watch "Butcher Boy", an English classic.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly disappointing
Review: Anyone checking out the reviews here will already know the big opening to the film - that of the gory suicide of 54 schoolgirls. The framing of that sequence - while violent to extremes that will make some laugh due to the exageration involved - does intrigue one to find out more about the mystery built up there. A subsequent sequence dealing with the death of two other characters also seems to be placing the film into the confines of either some type of supernatural thriller or ghost story. At the hour-mark, however, that's all forgotten when the film narrative becomes lost in gore effects for the sake of gore and a rather lame attempt to bring in some type of pseduo-philosophy of life and death into the story in order to give the movie some type of payoff. When the suicides seem to be all based around a blond guy with a Marc Bolan fetish, you know you're in for a mystery that will be as intriguing as an episode of the old Adam West BATMAN series. Many cardboard characters come and go with no explanation either, leaving one wondering who we're supposed to follow in the film. This movie probably would go over well with 13-year-olds on a late Friday night. Others may find some of the suicide setups at least something different to watch. Anyone looking for a film that can deliver a message with the shocks should look elsewhere. In fact, the people I watched it with fell asleep by the 80-min. mark. Even STACYS - a cheap schoolgirl zombie movie - delivered more imagination and thought-provoking ideas than on display here. Definitely a renter at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Gory but half-hearted social commentary
Review: Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono's vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film. As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won't disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides. It's really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan "To connect yourself to yourself" while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched. Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.
Rating:
Summary: Failed social satire drowned in blood
Review: Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono¡¦s vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film. As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won¡¦t disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides. It¡¦s really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan ¡§To connect yourself to yourself¡¨ while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched. Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.
Rating:
Summary: Failed social satire drowned in blood
Review: Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono¡¦s vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film. As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won¡¦t disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides. It¡¦s really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan ¡§To connect yourself to yourself¡¨ while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched. Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.
Rating: 
Summary: This Movie Is Awesome!!!
Review: first off id like to say this movie rocks. the opening scene is the best, unforgettable. if people tell you not to watch the movie dont listen. especially the ones who say they didnt get it so neither will you. its one of the best stories ever. and one of the truest. POP CULTURE followers. everyone has to fit in, everyone has to be the same. if you dont understand the story, then watch it twice trust me it helps. there should be more writers,producers,directors in america that have to guts to put out a movie like this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Genesis come dance with me!
Review: Holy-freaking-wow. Suicide Club is one of the greatest films ever! It's certainly not you're typical American movie that has to have at least 60 sex scenes in it to please the audience. I had to watch it with a friend, because from what I heard, it was supposivly rather frightening. However it made me laugh many times! It's a bit random, but I like that. It has lots of death... very fake looking death... And then it has Genesis! Oh man! I'm still confused at why he was even in the movie, but I enjoyed his appearance nonetheless. Even though the film was a bit odd, I appreciated the message behind the whole film. It's a good buy! Genesis all the way! Woohoo!
Rating:
Summary: This movie was awful.
Review: I don't know if anyone pays attention to these reviews or not, but believe me...this movie stinks. If you want to see a similar movie done much better try "Battle Royale".
Suicide Club's opening scene was great, but it was all straight downhill from there. It just kept getting worse and worse, even ending horribly with the all girl pop group "Desert" singing over the closing credits. This movie is unintentionally funny in several places, but overall it's a loser.
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